The 5 times Max's family life was fucked up (and the 1 time it wasn't)
by Paper75fire812
Summary: Max's life before, during, and after camp.
1. Chapter 1

The first time Max's family life changed was when he was a baby.

His memory is fuzzy and frustratingly distant but he still has pieces of it stored away in the back of his mind. There's chirping outside and something soft rubbing against his leg. Probably a cat. There's a dark brown rug underneath him with an adult blocking his view. Probably his dad. He can't see much from down there. It stays like that for a while. Cozy. Quiet. Peaceful. Safe. Until there's a thud.

That's when everything goes to shit.

Suddenly the door slams open, causing them both to jump up in shock. Chairs are thrown across the room. A table is flipped over. His father is shoved to the ground, his piercing screeches and later sobs muffed by the carpet. Max's ears are assaulted with someone's shrill screams (probably his mother's) and orders being tossed across the room. Max curls up into a little ball and snaps his eyes shut because it's all too much and sudden and _suffocating_. So he does what any other newborn would do in this situation. He cries.

Big mistake.

His wailing immediately catches the attention of the intruders, leading one of them to immediately snatch Max up by his hair and slaps his hand over Max's mouth.

Max only bawls harder, even when his Mother rips him out of his hands and holds him tight against her chest as she (unsuccessfully) attempt to escape the situation as soon as possible, shakely wiping away her tears and radiating comforting heat onto his tiny shaking body that was currently being wracked with sobs.

He only stops crying when both him and his mother drop to the ground, blood dripping from her back, when the concussion from the hit his head takes overwhelms him and he passes out, dreaming of safety and security and pure _love_.

Something he won't feel for a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time his family life changed was a few days after.

After being spotted in the debris left by his attackers, he's quickly shipped off to (or in his opinion, dumped at) an american adoption center, where the kind and optimistic Rose Chandler who's favorite line is "carpe diem" runs said hellhole.

His time there is short and he can't remember much, but he recalls a couple of orphans playing with him and Rose taking genuinely good care of him, so that was nice. But he also distinctly remembers Rose's sharp bitting insults and her tendency to roll her eyes when he cried for attention, revealing that her kindness towards him and her enthusiasm for life was nothing more than a facade (something he would find out about a lot of adults in his life).

That was less nice.


	3. Chapter 3

The third time his family life changed was when he was adopted.

He remembers everything with disgustingly vividness. The posh giggle his "mother" lets out as she makes boring small talk with the officiater. The stench of ink leaking onto the check. The condescending stare his "father" shoots him when they finally acknowledge his presence, despite him being there throughout the whole exhausting process. The bitter taste left in his mouth at the sight of the sick deceiving grins that could fool anyone except him they give the adoption officiater. The way his "parents" carelessly shove him into the back seat of their preppy little tesla. Every rage-inducing detail.

He's not surprised by any of it though. Why should he be? It's the same damn story he's gone through all his shit life. Adults pretending to be nice in order to get something (whether it be from him or others) and then showing their true colors eventually. It's not exactly a new concept to him. The world is way too shitty to ever let anyone escape it's corruption. That's why it was filled to the brim with desensitized apathetic assholes.

After all, what other explanation could he come up with in order to explain away why his probably dead parents were replaced with his new "family" that send him to bed, or should he say the floor, without dinner that night because he "talked back to much" (a.k.a. asked too many questions in hindi for their liking).


	4. Chapter 4

The fourth time his family life changed was when his "parents" dropped him off at Camp Campbell for the summer.

He wasn't surprised he ended up at this fucking nightmare of a camp in the slightest.

Camp Campbell was where unwanted kids were dumped and his parents clearly didn't want anything to do with him. They were always too busy hanging out with their rich friends all over this villainous world when they weren't bragging to said friends about how " _perfect_ " they were at parenthood to ever care about him. That's how it had always been after all. It was why he was so excited to be here and far away from them. At first.

He was a lot less pleased when he met the counselors.

Gwen, though he'll never admit it, is pretty cool. She's bitter, incredibly easy to mess with, treats him like an adult (which is basically what he is at this point), and actually acknowledges how crappy this planet is. He could certainly get used to her. David, however, is a whole different story.

The first time Max saw the annoying fucker was when he greeted him with a wave and a smile that perfectly mirrored the bullshit ones his parents gave his adoption officiator, giving Max his name and promising him a wonderful time there before spouting a quick "campe diem" as Max quickly power-walked away from the situation as fast as his tiny little legs could carry him. _God_ , this guy really wanted Max to buy his act, didn't he?

He decided that he hated everything about this godforsaken hellhole, especially David, with the intensity of a thousand suns and that he was going to spend every moment of his time there thinking up schemes to escape when he realized that David spit out his dumbass catch phrase ("campe diem") in the same sickeningly perky tone that Rose always spat out her stupid "carpe diem" line and no attempt from David to prove to Max that he actually gave a crap and that he could have a good time at camp could ever change Max's mind.

Their way no fucking way he was gonna buy into that bullshit rhetoric anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

The fifth time his family life changed was on the last day of camp.

He knew. He abso-fucking-lutely knew his parents wouldn't show up to pick him up. He knew they would abandon him. Everyone did. The campers had picked up of Max's parents' negligence sometime during month two. Hell, even David and Gwen figured it out once they discovered that his mom and dad didn't even care enough to sign him up for an official camp activity before signing him up. Everyone knew. _He_ knew.

What he didn't know was why the hell it stung so much that it was like he never got the memo when the sun set and the sandy driveway stayed empty. Or why it practically burned when David drove him home only to find a "sold" sign in its driveway. Or why he could have sworn he felt his eyes well up with tears while eavesdropped on Gwen and David as overheard them agreed to drop Max off at child protective services the next morning.

Or why he'd never felt so shitty before despite having been through so much worse.


	6. Chapter 6

The sixth time his family life changed was on the next morning drive to child protective services.

Max was dead. He had to be. This wasn't possible in any sense of reality. He had to be dead. They got into a car crash and he passed away in the aftermath. Sure, it was a bit hard for him to buy into the idea of Max making it to heaven, let alone the concept of not immediately being faced with eternal nothingness upon death, but he didn't have any other explanation. There was no way this was real.

And yet, he could still feel the vibrations buzz underneath him when David slammed on the breaks in the middle of the road and whipped around so fast he was surprised he didn't get whiplash from it. He could still hear David's begging and pleading ringing in his ears like he had just said them a couple of seconds ago (and, well, he did, but it felt like an eternity ago to Max).

"Now, I know would never be able to replace your birth parents, Max, and I know I am completely clueless when it come to parenting, but I care about you too much to dump you somewhere that could just leave you in a situation that's just as terrible as your last one! And while I am aware that i'm not the...ideal person to take up the role of your father and that i'm sure i'll mess up a lot, that's why i'll never stop trying. Because somebody _fucking_ has to!"

There they were. Clear and transparent. From David's mouth.

Fucking _David_.

David, the counselor who he had spent every day of his three months at camp purposely annoying to the point of exhaustion. David, who he constantly reminded that he didn't care about or trust him. David, the man who was constantly forced to scold Max for his profanity and he had only seen swear twice. David, the incredibly frustrating motherfucker that Max drove up a wall almost everyday with his countless failed escape plots. David, who couldn't possibly be any different from any other adult, hell, any other _person_ , wanted to adopt _Max_?

What the actual _fuck_?

Then he felt David's hand on his shoulder and Max felt like he couldn't breath and David started rambling on and on about how sorry he was for even asking in the first place Max in this situation and promising to take him to child protective services right now and Max can't believe that even after all this this motherfucker is still second guessing himself.

"-and I promise that we'll find your better parents that can pr-"

"Are you fucking shitting me, camp man!?"

David looked back up at Max to be met with a trembling child with tears dripping down his face and heavy breathing.

"Jesus fucking christ, I can't believe you're pulling this bullshit! Of course I wanna be your kid, you fucking moron!" Max sobbed as David's face softened and immediately wrapped his arms around Max, not even thinking about daring to scold the child for swearing and surrounding him in safety and security and pure _love_ , something he haven't felt in a long time. And _jesus christ_ , did he miss it.

Max didn't notice the cars behind him beeping their horns or how gross and humiliated he felt for crying on David's shoulder and letting him be held by the bane of his existence and he didn't even entertain any thoughts on all the shitty and dumbass changes life put him through or how none of this mattered since death was inevitable anyway or how hard he wished that his birth parents could hold him instead of his counselor because none of that shit could take away mind off the startling realization of the fact that David _cared_. Someone actually gave a crap about his shitty existence. And person cared enough to be his _dad_.

That might not make up for losing his parents, but god _damn_ did it come close.


End file.
